Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Opinion

When it comes to conflicts of interest in the world of higher-ed admissions, there are always gray areas.

That's why universities need to explain to their admissions officers which activities are okay and which activities aren't.

Unfortunately, the communication process seems to have failed in the case of Judith Hodara, a Wharton MBA admissions officer who simultaneously worked in two private admissions-counseling businesses.

Hodara served on an advisory board for a Tokyo-based admissions-counseling firm and owned IvyStone Educational Consultants, which provided admissions advice for high-school students. She even publicly advertised her role as a Wharton admissions officer on the IvyStone Web site - presumably as a selling point to potential clients.

Only after word got out about her outside activities did Hodara resign from both organizations.

It's clear that administrators should do a better job of communicating the University's conflict-of-interest policies to Penn's admissions officers.

Still, increased communication alone isn't enough. University officials also need to actively enforce these policies by constantly ensuring that staff members aren't joining or starting any admissions-consulting firms on the side.

In short, Penn must implement stricter ethics standards. Because while this one incident won't do much damage, repeated incidents could permanently harm the reputation of the University.

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